“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable”
George Bernard Shaw
Archive for January, 2012
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“What if the world is holding its breath–waiting for you to take the place that only you can fill?”
— David Whyte, author
There is an unforseen future ahead in 2012. It will contain good and bad days. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a therapist, for free, always at your beck and call? Well you can! Do you recall what it was like to keep a journal as a teenager. It was your friend, your companion. Or how did you feel when you dashed off a letter to the editor, venting your inner feelings at something that offended you? Or that love letter you finally wrote, pouring out your heart and soul. Didn’t it make you feel so much better that you now expressed your love openly? All these are examples of how writing can be your personal therapist. The simple act of stringing words together to express your emotions, getting it “out there on the page” can help you cope with today’s world, with all its terrors and disappointments. You don’t have to be a professional writer to experience the healing power in the process of writing.
There are many types of writing that can give form to your feelings: Journals, poems, songs, essays, a letter to the editor, letter to a friend, letter to a foe (if done tastefully with words you won’t regret!), short stories, personal fairy tales.
The act of writing can:
* Be a way to vent, rage, “get it off your chest,” “let it all out.”
* Give you the feeling that you are being heard.
* Help you give form to nebulous thoughts and feelings.
* Be a process that can lead to insights if you do not try to control it.
After you have put your feelings down in words, you can choose to tear it up, save it to re-read, share it with friends, try to get it published, or post it on a personal Web site.
Here are some tips on how to get started in using writing as personal therapy:
1. Start small – keep a daily journal to record your thoughts and emotions.
2. Move on to giving your thoughts and feelings more form through a poem or essay.
3. Get out of your skin – try to write making a more global statement or from another point of view.
4. Write about the human condition – take your problems and place them in a larger perspective.
5. Write a short story having the fictional characters “act out” your problem – a great way to try “solutions”!
It is the act of writing, not how much you produce or the quality that matters. Remember, you are not trying to become a professional writer. Write when you feel the need or when there is no one around to listen to you. You might feel that your writing is poor or that no one seems to get the meaning. However, if you feel emotionally relieved after writing the piece or it gave you an insight or a solution as you wrote it, than it achieved its goal.
“…for 2012 step into he future (by way of the present)and let the good times roll” Rachel Klar, Change the Ratio, NY Nov/Dec issue of Bizbash magazine
Recently I saw a movie (animated feature “Up”) that had me laughing. I thought a friend who suffers from winter blahs would enjoy seeing it so I e-mailed her “Want to be ‘Up’?”
Another friend e-mailed me this tidbit about the two-letter word Up:
In English UP has more meanings than any other two-letter word. It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v]. Word expert that I am, I never knew one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, AND a preposition. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.
At other times, this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time is UP!
Words can soothe, words can inspire, words can make you laugh…Each week I will post a quote whose words will hopefully add a positive note to your life.
“With the economy the way it is, you have a choice: You can complain about the storm or dance in the rain!”
Word Power 